Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“And so you chose one for a Sayer,” Rhad remarked, a bite to his tone.
Hellyne pinned him with a somber glare. “We all chose Anara. It is a pity I cannot trust that any of the half-bloods here will respect that. Heed me when I say it would be a mistake to harm her. She belongs to us.” Again, several voices were mixed with hers.
“Why assume we would be a threat to her?” asked Eacus. “We have not harmed her.”
“You put her life at risk when you forced her to endure Xalbia,” Hellyne pointed out, her tone clipped. “Her death would mean nothing to you, despite that we anointed her. And if you won’t protect her, they will.”
Uh, they?
I heard a rumbling sound. Stone grating stone. Stone cracking.
Something exploded on the battlement a few feet away as bits of stone and debris went flying. A loud roar split the air and, oh hell, a damn dragon had broken out of the statue. It stretched out its wings and snarled down at the demigods there.
Three other explosions sounded, swiftly followed by more roars. And I knew without looking that the other dragons were now no longer statues.
Well, fuck.
Shock had me in a tight grip. Apparently, the entire race hadn’t died out during the Uprising. Four had in fact been encased in stone by the gods, just as some had believed.
Talon approached the winged beast a few feet away. It was a sight to behold. Fierce, majestic, and huge with serpentine gold eyes, shiny dark scales, a barbed tail, and wicked talons. Typhaos, I thought, recalling the drawing I’d seen of him.
He stared at Talon, his large nostrils flaring. The Cardinal held out his arm, and Typhaos nuzzled his palm. Something passed between them. A heart-squeezing moment of recognition and familiarity.
Hellyne again peered down at the newcomers. “Leave here. Do not return unless it is under a flag of peace. In exchange, there will be no retaliation for your actions here today.” She again looked at the Sovereigns. “That will gall you, yes, but you will let this go so long as they obey me.”
Minos ground his teeth. “What kind of rulers would ignore an attempt to overthrow them?”
“Rulers who seek to maintain peace, just as you were ordered to do when we first made you and your brothers the Sovereigns of Cathadonya,” Hellyne stated. “It seems you have forgotten that.”
Minos snapped his mouth shut.
Once more addressing every half-blood, she said, “Put down your metaphorical swords. Live and let live. Be satisfied with what you have. Cease fighting over what will never belong to you. Treat the humans better.” A pause. “Or don’t. And endure the consequences.” With that silken threat, she disappeared in a rush.
I stumbled, my knees buckling. I blindly reached out and grabbed Khalida’s arm.
“You’re okay,” she soothed.
No, I wasn’t. At all. A freaking goddess had just spoken through me.
“The silver ring in your eyes is glowing,” Khalida told me.
I took deep breaths as the foreign energy inside me gradually subsided. It left a lingering though nonvisible mark, however. My skin remained hypersensitive, and my brain seemed to be operating a mile a minute.
Even stranger, the ‘call’ that had been plaguing me for weeks burned brighter. Sharper. Clearer. A divine call to listen, trust, and serve. I just hadn’t understood it before.
Talon slowly stalked toward me, balling up his hands as if wrestling back the urge to touch me. Unsurprising. I knew he wouldn’t do it in front of the Sovereigns. They were the type to use what mattered to you against you.
“We heard no whisperings of a Sayer,” Theseus claimed, as stunned as his companions. I knew their shock wasn’t merely a case of Sayers not having been utilized by the primordials in a very long time. It was that I—a human—could act as a divine conduit. It rightfully should have killed me.
Minos ignored that. “You heard Hellyne. Leave. Do not return.”
The four trespassers exchanged hard looks and took one long glance at me. Then, as one, they pivoted on their heel. They made no slow, casual retreat. They moved at inhuman speed as they vanished into the forest.
Rhad turned to a nearby Phoenixian. “Go. Send word to us if they do not vacate the isle.”
The officiate nodded, his wings snapping out, and then took to the air.
All three Sovereigns focused on me. I tensed, and the Laelaps edged closer to me protectively. At the same time, a grating growl scraped at the back of Typhaos’ throat.
His lips thinning, Minos turned to Talon. “Bring her to the audience chamber. There are things to discuss.”
Yeah. Yeah, I supposed there was. Still, watching the Sovereigns march off the battlements, I had the thought that I could honestly set fire to their audience chamber and think nothing of it.
Talon crossed to me, his neck corded, his prominent jaw tight, his muscular back ramrod straight. His usually expressive face carefully inscrutable, he studied me from head to toe, likely searching for a sign that being a vessel for Hellyne had somehow harmed me.